FINISHING in the play-off positions this season would have been a dream for Cardiff City, but people work long and hard to achieve their dreams.

FINISHING in the play-off positions this season would have been a dream for Cardiff City, but people work long and hard to achieve their dreams.

City have had a good season, but what has nagged at me throughout is that the team has consistently earned itself excellent opportunities to achieve and then proceeded to spurn them.

In the first week of December, City were sixth, in a play-off position and five points off the automatic promotion spots.

By the first week of January, after four straight defeats, they had fallen back to 12th spot, seven points off the action.

This month, after an excellent run of three consecutive wins, a win at Millwall or at home against Crystal Palace would have put City right back in play-off contention, yet the chances were wasted.

In between those two periods there have been a clutch of games where City have failed to hit the required standards asked of them.

Just two wins from the seven games highlighted in the panel on the left would have meant City were true contenders so why did they miss out?

For me, the simple answer is that the squad is not big enough or good enough to go much further than it has. Even if all his squad was fit, Lawrence would now have just 23 players available to him, a number which includes three 'keepers.

But when you take into account that that number also includes five players currently injured or just returning from injury, it's simply not enough.

Ideally, City should have strengthened the squad on the back of that first good run because it has been too small.

Successful teams strengthen from a position of strength, they don't let the momentum drop.

But City missed the boat and the good ship Cardiff was holed when it should have been hitting full steam.

You get the feeling Lawrence has been fighting with one hand tied behind his back.

Despite that he pulled off a terrific piece of business with Paul Parry's signing, even if it did whiff of desperation at the time.

It begs the question of why, if money is tight, there wasn't more done to freshen things up with loan players?

Loan signings don't have to come with a view to a permanent signing because they provide a spark, just like Julian Gray did.

But it's no good having more players if they don't perform, so another question has to be asked.

How many of City's squad forced themselves into the team from the bench or reserves this season?

There have been too few players who have truly established themselves in the side when given their chance and only Martyn Margetson has made himself undropable.

Although James Collins has done very well, he was drafted in as a last-ditch measure to stop the flooding defence from sinking, while Parry was brought in from outside to shore up an obvious hole because the squad didn't contain the player required.

While some squad players have done very professional jobs this season, they have not been able to produce the inspirational form Graham Kavanagh, Robert Earnshaw or Peter Thorne showed earlier this year.

They didn't bust their guts to win their place in the team because they either knew or felt that their individual fates were already sealed.

What it has meant is that City's injured players have been rushed back or asked to play with injuries because the squad is not strong enough.

Despite all that though, I still think City have done well this season and the major problem at the club remains the expectation level of the fast-food generation of fans who demand everything now with all the trimmings.

Comparisons have been made with various sides of similar size like Norwich (eight years building in Division One) and West Brom (just down from the Premier), but doing so is pointless because City are at a different stage of development to all their divisional rivals, they are behind them all because they have risen so quickly.

Anyone calling for Lawrence's head needs a reality check because, at this time, he is the right man to take City forward.

Stability was the key this year and it has been achieved.

Next season they have to make steps forward which means the play-offs at least are the target at the outset.

Cardiff City is a club of extremes where the fans talk about things in terms of dreams and nightmares.

The words patience and steady progress rarely cross the lips of the Bluebirds' faithful.